Curse of Thieves: Another Major Vince Hamilton Investigation

by Patricki Slaney

  I had a quick look at the map of France that had come with the hire car and decided that Lyon would be the nearest major airport where I had a chance of getting a flight back to London. I punched Lyon Airport into the Sat Nav device and headed off on the 100 Kilometre or so drive to Lyon.

  I decided to drop off the hire car immediately, so as I wouldn't have to find a parking spot. Entering the airport complex, I followed the signs for the Car Hire returns. A courtesy coach dropped me off at the terminal where I booked an Easy Jet flight to London, Gatwick, which would leave at 7.05am the following morning.

  Next step was to book a room in a hotel for the night. I went over to where there was a bank of telephones that were connected to the various local hotels and randomly picked the phone for the Hotel Kyriad. Thirty minutes later I was installed in my room and phoning Inspector Baird at Hampstead police station.

  'Baird speaking,' he answered in his gruff voice which used to put me off before I got to know him better.

  'It's Vince here in Lyon, Inspector,'

  'Hi Vince; how did it go today?'

  'Well, your Gendarme contact must have a lot of influence as I got onto the site without any problems and everybody was extremely helpful.'

  'I am glad to hear that. I must contact him and thank him for all his help. What did you find out?'

  'Not very much, but I did get the make and the registration of the car.'

  'Give me that as a start then.'

  'It is a dark blue BMW five-series and its reg. is LH54THL.'

  'Anything else Vince?'

  'It was a family that was attacked. The parents were both shot, but the children survived. They are rather naturally severely traumatised. A cyclist who seems to have arrived on the scene at the exact time of the shooting was also shot dead. I took some photographs of the area.'

  'When do you intend to fly back from Lyon?'

  'I am booked on a flight that will leave here at 7.05am-tomorrow morning.'

  'Why don't you come to the station here in Hampstead at 2.00pm tomorrow and show me the photographs. I will have traced the owners of the car by then so will be able to fill in some more details. I can settle up your expenses at the same time.'

  'That sounds good Inspector. I will see you tomorrow.'

  I rather guiltily remembered that I hadn't phoned my wife since I arrived in France, so I rang her on my home number. There was no answer, so I phoned her on her mobile to find that she had taken the kids to stay with her parents in Maidstone for a few days. I told her that I was planning on flying home early the next morning. She wasn’t too upset at me for not having phoned her while I had been in Sete. Luckily she understood that I had got so involved in my investigation that the family had taken a back seat for a few days. For her peace of mind, I didn't tell her that I had been held captive in a small room in a boatyard.

  Chapter 11

  It was an early start for me the following morning, but I made my 7.05am flight to London and was going through my front door at 10.30am. The house was deathly quiet with none of the family at home and not very welcoming.

  I made myself a cup of coffee and read through the notes I had made on the flight back from France.

  Boat Thefts:

  1. Now three boats missing

  2. Italians involved - could it be the Mafia?

  3. Sete boatyard was being used as a base to alter the stolen boats

  4. They now knew I was on to them so I would have to be ultra-careful

  5. As far as I knew, they didn't know my identity

  6. Why boats only stolen from Cannes?

  7. Still didn't know the final destination of the boats?

  Murder in Forest at Annecy:

  1. English car so people murdered presumably English

  2. Why were they in such a remote place?

  3. Why was Inspector Baird interested in the murder?

  Other Facts of note:

  1. Italian actively involved in an attempted theft of a diamond necklace

  2. The necklace had been worth nearly two million pounds - worth stealing, but how would the thieves offload it and get paid?

  3. Very expensive luxury cars also being stolen and vanishing without a trace

  On a first assessment, this list seemed to be just details of unrelated incidents, but there were a few common threads that might link them together. As fast as I found answers new questions were being created.

  The thieves were taking extremely valuable items, and they appeared to be stealing to a strict plan. A crazy thought came into my head: Were the items being stolen to order, having been offered at knockdown prices to clients who had plenty of money to spend?

  As quickly as the thought entered my head, I banished it again. It was far too wild a notion to believe that such a syndicate could exist. I felt that there must be a simpler explanation.

  I looked at the clock in the kitchen and saw that I had been lost in my thoughts for quite a long time, and it was now 12.30pm. I needed to get moving if I was to reach Hampstead by 2.00pm. I rustled up a sandwich and then rushed to East Putney to catch the tube.

  Despite masses of tourists clogging the underground system, I reached Hampstead by 1.55pm and was walking in through the door of the police station at exactly 2.00pm.

  The desk sergeant told me to go through to the Inspector's office as he was waiting for me.

  I knocked on the door and entered.

  'Good afternoon Vince. Glad to see that you returned safely from France.'

  'Thankfully the journey went well, and I was home by 10.30.'

  I sat down in the chair, with a large desk between me and the Inspector.

  'Perhaps you could show me the photographs first and tell me all that you observed at the scene of the shooting.'

  I outlined all the details from the time that I arrived at the Gendarmerie in Chambery until I drove out of the forest park after my visit. As I talked, I showed him the photographs that I had taken.

  'Thank you Vince that has been a great help and confirms what you told me yesterday,' he said after I had finished.

  'I have some additional information which I received from Inspector Mortine this morning,' the Inspector continued. 'They found three valuable masterpiece paintings in the boot of the murder victim's car. The pictures turned out to be three of a number of paintings that went missing in Paris during the Nazi occupation in the Second World War. They were believed to have been taken back to Germany at some stage, but have not been seen since the end of the war.'

  'Have you been able to trace the car's owner?'

  'Yes. It belongs to a man called Torben Christiansen who is of Danish nationality, and he lives in Surrey. You also will be interested to learn that he is an art dealer. We have been investigating him for some time in connection with the sale of some dodgy masterpieces. These paintings were proved later to have been remarkably convincing fakes.'

  'Had he been arrested for selling the forgeries?'

  'No he hadn't. It is extremely difficult to prove that he knew that they were forgeries; however, we were in the process of preparing a case against him.'

  'It appears to be the season for moving all sorts of stolen items around Europe,' I added. 'There are three one million plus dollar motor yachts missing; there are two or three luxury cars going missing each month; there was a diamond necklace worth close on two million dollars that was nearly stolen and now there seems to be a number of expensive paintings in the mix.'

  'You know Vince as I have said before, I don't believe in coincidences. I have a strong feeling that they are all connected in some way.'

  'If you are correct then it must be a large organization, and there must be substantial money behind it.'

  The Inspector took out a writing pad and started to note down some figures.

  'If you just consider the thefts that we know about, there is a significant amount of money involved. Let me write down some figures. Twenty-five or so luxury cars add up to around six million pounds. Three
luxury Motor Yachts is a further three million. The necklace would have been another two million and the three paintings in the car's boot, come to an additional three million. If I add all this up it comes to a total of fourteen million. If they sell them, even giving a fifty percent discount, they still net seven million pounds.'

  'A more likely figure would be around the ten million mark,' I suggested.

  'It’s big money, and the sum is increasing daily,’ the Inspector said. ‘What are your plans now Vince?'

  'Well, I have had a serious setback in my bid to stop the boat thefts from Cannes and in finding out where the stolen boats’ final destination is. I tracked the latest theft to Sete but, in trying to learn more about the thieves and what they were doing to the boat, I was captured and locked up.'

  'How did you escape?'

  'My friend Willem alerted the French police, and they came to rescue me. I had told him what I was up to, and if he didn't hear from me, to assume that the worst had occurred.'

  'What happened to the boat?'

  'They left the following morning when the bridges opened. They found and removed the tracking device off the boat, so now we have no way of knowing where it went after it left Sete.'

  'So another large motor yacht has vanished without a trace.'

  'That's right. I suspect that they took Splendiferous to the boatyard in Sete to make modifications to it, and Sete wouldn't have been its final destination.'

  'So do you have any spare time to help in trying to solve the luxury car theft problem?'

  'Probably only a limited amount time is the answer to your question. My next step will be to meet the boat owners group in Cannes to decide what we do next. That meeting will probably take place next Sunday. Up to then I suppose that I can give you some time.'

  'I would like you to go and have a chat with Clive Newsome. He is the Chairman of the association of motor dealers who sell the luxury cars. He has asked me to recommend someone to him who would be willing to work for his association and try and solve the current spate of luxury car thefts.'

  'As long as he understands that I might have to spend a number of days, at any time, chasing down stolen motor yachts, I would help in whatever way that I can.'

  'I am sure that he would agree to that, I will phone him now and make an appointment for you to see him tomorrow.'

  He got through to Clive Newsome, and I could hear him explaining that I had agreed to help in tracking down the luxury car thefts. He got a meeting time from Clive and put the phone down.

  'Right Vince you are to meet him at his showrooms at 151 Park Road, St. John's Wood tomorrow morning, Wednesday, at 10.00am. The nearest tube station is St. John's Wood as I know that you don't have a car, and you will be on public transport.'

  He wrote the information on a piece of paper and handed it to me.

  'That will suit me perfectly. I just hope that another boat isn't stolen tonight.'

  'Let me know how your meeting with Clive goes, won't you.'

  'Yes; I'll phone you after I have seen him.'

  I left Hampstead police station and headed for home on the tube.

  My brain was going at a hundred miles an hour. I was struggling to cope with the information overload I was receiving. If all the thefts were in some way connected, it was more than one inexperienced private investigator could handle. The only hope that I had was that in following one branch of the investigation it would lead me to a solution for all the other parts. I remembered a saying that my father used to tell me - There is only one way to eat an elephant, and that is one bite at a time. I would just have to take the next small step and hope that there were no more disasters like losing the Splendiferous in Sete.

  On arriving home, I phoned Freddie Shuttleworth to explain what had happened in Sete and to fix a time with the Cannes owners group. He agreed that Sunday would be the best day and to assume that it would be on the following Sunday in the Grand Hotel at 11.00am unless I heard from him.

  My meeting with Clive Newsome tomorrow morning was next on the agenda, and I had to put anything else to the back of my mind for the time being.

  I phoned an ex-military bachelor friend of mine, and we went out to a local pub overlooking the Thames for a pint and fish and chips. It was relaxing to talk about the memories we had of our days in the army, and forget all about the curse of thieves for the evening.

  Chapter 12

  Another decent night's sleep in my own bed meant that I was fresh for my meeting on the luxury car thefts at 10.00am in St. John's Wood the following morning.

  There was no chance of me missing the premises of Clive Newsome, Luxury Cars. There were a number of extremely fancy models sitting on the forecourt of the showrooms. The one that jumped out at me was a sleek Aston Martin in British racing green. Some of the models I didn't even recognize, but they all looked expensive.

  On stepping onto the showroom floor, I was pounced on by a salesman. His antennae had obviously identified me as a likely customer.

  'Can I help you Sir,' he said in an exceptionally smooth way, almost purring.

  'I am afraid that I am not looking to purchase a car, but I am here to meet your chief executive, Clive Newsome.'

  His enthusiasm vanished, and the smile also disappeared from his face. I had destroyed his morning.

  'If we go and talk to that lady over there she will call him for you.' He brought me over to where there was a very classy lady sitting behind a desk.

  'Sandra, this gentleman has an appointment with Clive. She'll look after you now Sir.' Just then he spotted an expensively suited man entering the showroom. The smile came back on his face, and he glided off to greet the new arrival.

  'What's the name Sir,' the lady asked me.

  'It's Vince Hamilton.'

  'Take a seat over there Sir and I will let him know that you are here.'

  I sat down where she had pointed and picked up a glossy motoring magazine.

  I had just opened it when a figure appeared in front of me.

  'Vince Hamilton, my name is Clive Newsome. I'm delighted to meet you.'

  I stood up and shook his hand and echoed his greeting.

  'If you like to follow me I'll lead the way to my office.' He set off across the showroom and went up a flight of stairs at the back. On the first floor, he showed me into an exceptionally comfortable office, furnished with expensive looking furniture. He was dressed in a dark grey suit, white shirt and a tie that had the Ferrari logo emblazoned on it. About my height, five foot ten inches, he was very trim for a man of his age that I would have said was in the late fifties. He looked exactly what I would have expected the Chief Executive of a luxury car dealership should look like. He indicated a chair at a round table, and we both sat down.

  'Would you like coffee or tea Vince? You don't mind if I call you Vince do you?'

  'I'd wonder what was wrong if you didn't call me Vince. Yes, I would like a cup of coffee.'

  He went over to the phone sitting on his desk and organized coffee for the both of us.

  'Perhaps you could start the proceedings by telling me a bit about yourself and why Inspector Baird recommended you to me.'

  I spent the next ten minutes filling him in on my background and relating how I had got to know the Inspector. He sat there listening patiently, only interrupted by the arrival of our coffee.

  'So it sounds as if you have experience of investigating cases that cross international boundaries.'

  'Yes, I have operated in Holland, France and South Africa as well as around London with all that entails. I obviously also served overseas in my time with the British Army.'

  'You sound the ideal person to help us sort out our problem?'

  'Can I ask you why your association is involved in this at all? Surely it is the job of the police to solve the theft problem. I presume that it is privately owned vehicles that are being stolen?'

  'Very simply, luxury car sales have plummeted because of the large number being stolen,’ he continued. �
��One of the main reasons for the reduced sales is due to the Insurance companies raising their premiums to incredibly high levels as a result of the thefts. If we don't get to the bottom of this quickly, some of the smaller dealers are going to go out of business.'

  'Do you know the methodology of the thieves and how they are taking them out of the country?'

  'The thieves have developed a sophisticated technique that enables them to drive off with some of the most expensive vehicles available.' Clive Newsome explained. 'They are using a hi-tech lock jamming device which can be bought easily online. To get into the car they simply switch on the device just as the driver is using their remote to lock their car.'

  'I thought that the new locking systems on cars were highly sophisticated and extremely secure.'

  'They are, but what the jamming device does is to block the signal when the driver presses the remote, so, unknown to the driver, the car isn't locked.'

  'So the car is open, and all the thief has to do is get into it.'

  That's right, and once inside the vehicle, they can access the car's computer system using another electronic device. They then re-programme a blank key which they use to start the vehicle. All this can be done in a matter of minutes.'

  'So, if somebody parks a luxury car in the street and then goes to fetch a take-away coffee or something similar, their car could be gone when they return. The whole theft process will only take a few minutes.'

  'Yes, it is that quick.'

  'Is there any particular area of London where the thefts are taking place?'

  'Obviously there are areas of London where there is a higher density of luxury cars, and these are the areas that the thieves target. Thefts have been reduced since the police have put men on the beat in the high risk streets, but the thieves just move elsewhere, and the overall numbers have not been reduced.'

  'So how do you think I can help you?'

  'Well, at the moment we don't know where the stolen cars are being taken in the immediate aftermath of the theft. If you could come up with a plan as to how we could get that information, it might be a good place to start.'